How did you cope with the side effects tapering off prednisone?

I don't know where Vellen is, but 2.5mg tabs aren't available in Australia. I now have 1mg tabs as well as the 5's and life is easier.

My pill cutter is a single edge razor but 11.25 if done correctly is still lower than I wanted to go. I think I'm just traumatized a bit from the 15 to 12.5 pain. I'll think on it and see what the dr. says on Monday, if he contacts me. Thanks for the suggestion, it sucks to have to figure this out for ourselves.

I'm in Colorado and the Dr was to give me an rx for 2mg which could go to 1 or even .5.

I was tapering down from 20mg to 10 mg of prednisone at 2.5mg per week. It wasn’t hard to hard to cut the 5mg pill in half. When I finally got to 10mg. my doctor wanted to slow down the taper to 1mg. per month. My pharmacist ordered 1mg. of prednisone tablets (it was written into my new prescription). This is making it very easy to take the recommended dose with no cutting involved. She did say that many pharmacists will not have this size on hand but they could easily order it. Have patience and good luck, Liz Ward

Sara, I wish I could say that gummies are the answer for weight loss. I think initially when I was first taking them I experienced more energy and was able to turn down the comfort foods I was eating to make myself feel better. I did lose a few pounds and am back to my normal (albeit "plumpish" weight). I do think that the combination of apple cider vinegar and beet juice in the gummies has some merit and does no harm. It did take me 19 months to taper off Prednisone, but I wouldn't say that I have PMR entirely licked. I have stiffness and pins and needles in my hands and some "slug" days, but having experienced the real pain of PMR, I am truly thankful to be where I am. I hope this helps you and send you my best wishes.

Anyone with food sensitivities should be aware that the gummies contain carnauba wax, found only by searching the detailed ingredients list. Beets and beet greens are also high oxalate. A lot of gummies contain collagen/gelatin but these don't.

Latest blood work revealed that i have developed macrocytic anemia (high MCH). Probably explains the fatigue and muscle weakness that has come on as I continue to taper. I've started taking a B12, folate, and B6 supplement in case that is the cause, though I've read that prednisone can also cause the condition. Anyone else develop this condition while on this immunosuppressant?

Now that is interesting!! I need to check into this more. My MCH was high for years except I was never sure what MCH was. I thought it was one of those lab values that nobody cared about. I took prednisone for years so maybe this explains why my MCH was always high.

Sometimes I was mildly anemic but I didn't worry about that either. My doctor said it was likely the result of chronic systemic inflammation.

I have been off prednisone for 2 years. My CBC labs are mostly all normal now. My MCH is still slightly high sometimes but to me it seems like my "normal" high MCH.

Congratulations for being off prednisone for 2 years. That’s no small accomplishment if you were on it for years. May I ask what dose of prednisone were you on for years?

I had 2 different eras of prednisone use. The first 20 years were characterized by 60-100 mg of prednisone rapidly tapered to zero in a 1-2 months. That wasn't to treat PMR. I was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis with uveitis at the age of 32. I never had any problems tapering off prednisone quickly when those conditions were being treated. Remission would last about a year until things flared up again. I did the high dose ... fast taper routine repeatedly with great success for the conditions being treated.

At the age of 52, I was diagnosed with PMR in addition to all the rest. Then I could never taper off prednisone for more than 12 years. I tried but I just couldn't taper off. Progress was literally painstakingly slow.

I was in the 30-40 mg range for the first 5 years of PMR. Then I managed to get into the 20-30 mg range for the next 5 years. The lowest I could get was 10 mg after 12 years. Any dose lower than 10 mg was short-lived.

My treatment was complicated by secondary adrenal insufficiency caused by long term prednisone use. I was never sure about having PMR for 12 years but my inflammation markers were always elevated.

My rheumatologist decided I was "too young" to take prednisone for the rest of my life. I was 64 years old at the time. It was decided that a promising biologic used to treat GCA might work for PMR except I was never diagnosed with GCA.

My rheumatologist sought approval to treat PMR with the biologic called Actemra (tocilizumab) that had recently been FDA approved for GCA at the time.

There was a committee of doctors who reviewed my medical records and granted approval. The recommendation was to treat PMR as if it was GCA.

After Actemra was tried, I went from 10 mg to zero prednisone in less than a year the first time.